OT: Grandson's first professional baseball game, and the community outreach by the Cincinnati PDof the Cincinnat PD
In these days of negativity I wanted to pass on a feel good story from this weekend. My wife and I took my 4YO grandson to his first professional baseball game on Saturday to see Cincinnati play Atlanta. He was a trooper and made it through 6 innings which impressed my wife and me.
Now for the real purpose of my post. As we were leaving we were walking past a group of Cincinnati Police Officers waiting for the game to end to direct traffic. My Grandson waved and then asked if he could say hi to the officers. When he did, the 3 officers knelt down to his level, gave him some high-fives and asked him if he caught a game ball. When my grandson said no, one of the officers pulled a game used ball out of a pouch and tossed it to him, and said now you have. It made his day. His eyes got wide and he said thank you repeatedly. It made a memorable day even more memorable for him and we were very grateful.
https://twitter.com/JNJournalist/status/1409146447698796545?s=20
Now hopefully I linked my wife's tweet correctly.
Wow.. I butchered the title. I guess that's what happens when you get a work call in the middle of a post. haha
Hah - at first I thought your grandson got called up to the majors, I was like 'wow, impressive good for him' haha. Nice little story though.
That's awesome! What an sweet day for the grandson! Always great to hear when people go out of their way for others.
What a great first game experience. Great to hear there is still goodness out there in the world today. Thank you for sharing cKone!
That's great. Thanks for posting. I'll take all the good news I can get these days. Also, six innings is a long time for a four year old. Good job, young fella.
Nice story, thanks for sharing! In this world there is a lot of good and a bit of bad, unfortunately we dwell on the bad. Maybe because we take the good for granted and it is not "news", anyway I digressed, nice post and story!
Getting a game ball is a huge deal! Glad he got to experience that at his first game.
Getting a game ball is a huge deal! Glad he got to experience that at his first game.
cKudos, cKone. All the Cincinnati cops I know are great.
I only know one, a fellow military policeman from my Army days, but still, he's a Cinti cop, he worked Reds games, and he IS great.
I agree. I have lived in the Dayton or Cincinnati area for most of my adult life (With a few years hear and there in other cities). I have to say that all of my experiences with Cincinnati Police Officers (including getting speeding tickets) have been positive. The officers do what they can to be friendly and helpful.
I've heard from LE friends that I have all over the mid-west that after the incidents that led to the riots in the early 90s that they have remained on the forefront of police community relations. So much so that many PDs from around the country send their officers here to take training classes. As someone who lives in the area it sounds like something to be proud of.
cKone, that's good to know. My friend's modest, doesn't talk much about work—except when he took me on patrol—so I wasn't aware of its training mission.
P.S. He and his wife, also a big Reds fan, took me to the game that happened to be the one when the commissioner allowed Pete Rose to step on the field for applause for the first time after banishment but NOT to talk.
Cincinnati had some rather ugly riots in April 2001.
I lived in Cincinnati from 2007-2016. The police were very engaged in the community, and the city as a whole took many steps up during my 9 years there. The city and the police reached a bottom in 2001 - but they made the effort to improve relations and outreach. Credit to them for taking those steps - some folk don't and won't.
For those who didn't know, former Detroit Police Chief James Craig served in the same role in Cincinnati for a few years (2011-2013) in the post-2001 era.
I may have gotten my dates wrong. I was thinking the riots were in the early 90s, but now thinking back, the riots were in early 2000s.
No worries. Yes, April 2001 --- Cincinnati and Seattle (WTO conference) were the worst civil disturbances in America in the 1992 (LA) to 2014 (Ferguson, MO) time frame.
Nice story, OP. I hope the experience creates a lifelong baseball fan in your grandson. We need all the youngsters we can get these days.
On a related note, I really like Cincinnati's ballpark. I saw a game there back in 2016 and was really impressed with the vibe.
I agree with you on Great American Ballpark. It was a MASIVE step up from the sterile environment of old Riverfront Stadium. I've been to games in almost all of the cities that I have lived in, and it ranks up toward the top for me.
So you're a Michigan fan who allowed his grandson to be named Braxton???
Kidding!
That's a really sweet story and one I'm sure he'll remember for a long time. Was it just coincidence that he happened to have a game ball or do they get a few as a matter of coursefor just such an occasion?
Haha. I agree with you on the name. I did try to talk my daughter out of it but it was a futile effort. I will say the more years that pass since Miller's playing days the lest I think about the comparison. haha.
Great story and great reaction from the MgoBoard thus far (really wasn't expecting that).
Thats awesome - cherish your time with your grandkids man, you can have such a HUGE impact on them. I miss my grandparents so much and I really wish they could have met my daughter.
That young Grandson of yours is adorable! I'm glad he had such a great time!
Thank you so much! He is adorable and one of the happiest little dudes that you could ever meet. We are blessed having him and his little brother and cousin in our lives, and I am blessed at 47 years old to be young enough to be active with them.
Careful now, portraying our men and women in blue in such a positive light can get you in trouble these days.....just ask 'Paw Patrol".
Now that's a great way for a youngster to receive a game ball. Those officers really came through in the clutch.
Awesome story. They probably helped make a lifetime baseball fan with that gesture.
My son is 17 now, but he was about 4-5 when he got his first MLB baseball. We were in the Cincy watching a reliever warm up and a female PD officer walked over and had a fairly long conversation with him. She asked him to hold on a minute and went somewhere to get him a ball.
I had a foul ball from AAA (Louisville) so I gave that to him and over they years we also got one from A ball (Dayton), and AA (Chattanooga) so he has a pretty neat set on the shelf in his bedroom.
Cool story, bro. And I'm not even being snarky - that's a really cool story.